The present invention relates to a system for generating a complete set of architectural specifications and correlated instructions, information, and task assignments for various groups of people for constructing a building.
In the past, an architect or specifier hand-wrote a description of materials and construction techniques to produce an architectural specification. Such specifications now may generate sets of instructions, information and work assignments to various groups of people, such as draftsmen, engineers, designers, inspectors, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, etc. Specification writing is extremely tedious and time-consuming because, for a large construction project, an architectural specification may run up to 1,000 pages or more. Further, during planning and preparation of construction drawings, there may be changes; and it is difficult to make such changes and insure that the changes are distributed to all persons involved in the work.
Systems have been suggested for using a computer to assist in the preparation of architectural specifications; however, none of the systems that have been suggested have enjoyed any widespread commercial acceptance. One of the disadvantages found in some of these computer-assisted systems is that the information from which a specification is generated is simply a codification of the language used in handwritten specifications compiled in paragraph form. Thus, a specifier would have to locate a paragraph that conveyed the exact meaning he desired and then specify it. Such systems quickly become unwieldly because of the extremely large information base required to convey the various nuances and different meanings required in an architectural specification. Further, these systems are not easily adapted to the incorporation of new products or changing construction techniques or modifications of the original architectural specifications.
In the present system, a specifier uses brief symbolic characters representative of individual phrases, not sentences or paragraphs, from a large information repository called a Master Phrase Catalog. The phrases in the Master Phrase Catalog are arranged under broad headings called divisions which represent large phases of construction; and the divisions are further subdivided into sections. Each section has an identifying section group number, and it relates to a task or subdivision associated with the major construction phrase or division. Associated with each of the section groups are a number of individual phrases arranged with predetermined indentation to form a final architectural specification in outline form. Associated with each of the individual phrases is a phrase number.
The decision-maker (i.e. specifier) uses a limited number of commands to completely specify a project. He writes the commands out in a code of symbolic characters representative of the major divisions, sections and phrases which constitute the architectural specification. As a result of his selections and commands, and with no further effort on his part, the computer will automatically produce sets of instructions, information, and work assignments for various categories of receivers, as selected by the specifier.
The code written by the specifier is fed into a computer which has all of the information in the Master Phrase Catalog stored on a permanent record file. The computer also has stored an index file correlating the specifier's code with the phrases from the Master Phrase Catalog that will eventually make up the specification.
The computer is programmed to edit the input code composed by the specifier for any errors, and it determines whether the errors are fatal (i.e., those errors which do not permit further processing of the input code). If there are any fatal errors, the program identifies those errors and provides a print-out for the specifier indicating what the fatal errors are.
If there are errors which are not fatal, the input code is processed and a listing is produced of the input code together with an edited input file for further processing to produce the architectural specification. The specification produced by the computer has marginal reference information correlating the listing with the code prepared by the specifier; and this facilitates correction of errors or the introduction of changes into the specification.
After the input code is edited and an edited input file prepared by the first phase of the computer program, the edit input file is then used to produce the final architectural specification including a listing of any errors which may not have been fatal and a table of contents. At the same time, the second phase of the computer program prepares a separate file to be used as an input file for phase 3 of the program which produces the instructions, information and work assignments. A record of all possible instructions is stored in the file in the computer and a separate file serving as an index to the main instruction file is also stored in the computer. The computer program utilizing the instruction input file produced by phase 2 of the program produces the sets of instructions, etc. from the instruction index file and the instruction data file.
By limiting the number of commands available to a specifier (there are only five such commands in the disclosed embodiment) and by using simply symbolic characters as the code, it is possible to introduce a specifier to the present system without having him understand any of the intricacies of computer programming. This feature facilitates introduction and utilization of the present system by the architectural community. That is, rather than making a computer programmer into an architect, the present system, with little effort, turns an architectural specifier with all of his background information into a computer programmer on a very elementary level.
One of the permissible commands enables a specifier to compose and insert his own text into the architectural specification; and this adds to the flexibility of the system. By arranging the Master Phrase Catalog and its associated specification data file into a number of discrete, concise phrases, as distinguished from sentences or paragraphs, adapted to be selected and arranged by the specifier in appropriate sequence, the system can be updated easily to include new products, new construction techniques or new instructions to personnel by deleting or changing one line. Because the corresponding information is stored in a computer, the updating process takes a minimum of time and thus enables the specifier to include the latest material or newest techniques in his final architectural specification. This further eliminates the time-wasting cut and paste or text editing requiring searches through old material that were inherent in earlier methods of preparing architectural specification. The present system further reduces the volume of the final architectural specification through the use of individual phrases compiled in outline form, in relation to prior systems which used specification paragraphs to set forth techniques and materials.
By including simple, symbolic characters of the phrases recorded in the Master Phrase Catalog, a specifier may produce an architectural specification with relatively little handwriting or typing.
One of the more important features of the system is that it enables a specifier to produce sets of instructions merely by checking one code block on the order form. These instructions, information and work assignments may be for the draftsmen, the engineers (such as electrical, mechanical or plumbing) contract administrators, color coordinators or others. Each of these sets of instructions is composed of individual phrases prepared beforehand and stored on a data file. The final listing is specifically related to the phrases and code in the Master Phrase Catalog selected by the specifier. Therefore, it is insured that the instructions given to the various construction personnel will exactly reflect the decisions of the specifier, because they are related to the phrase numbers he chooses from the Master Phrase Catalog.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment accompanied by the attached drawing.